Story Time For Integral
by Aaronxz
Summary: Going against ones biological clock to keep a nocturnal schedule is tough on a young Hellsing. It's up to Walter to tell Integral a bedtime story good enough to send her to La La Land. What is her chosen story topic? Why vampires of course.
1. Big Red

Story Time For Integral

Walter turned and looked down as he felt a tug on his sleeve. There grasping his shirt was seven year old Integral.

"Ah Miss Integral, what can I do for you." asked Walter as he knelt down by the young Hellsing.

"Walter I can't sleep. The sun is too bright and…and I just don't feel sleepy. I'm always tired all night when Daddy says that I'm supposed to be up but when I go to bed in the morning I never feel tired anymore."

Walter smiled a little sadly. "That's because the schedule we keep has to match the vampires we hunt. Even though it takes some getting used to since our bodies tell us to be asleep during the night and awake during the day. It must be really tough on someone as young as you."

"Oh that explains it," said Integral. "But what's a shed jewel?"

This brought a surprised laugh from Walter and he picked Integral up. "Come on Miss Hellsing how about if I read you a bedtime story. Will that help you get to sleep?"

Integral shook her head up and down energetically causing her hair to hit Walter in the face several times. She stopped when she realized what she had done. "Woops, sorry Walter."

"Think nothing of it." He said as he untangled a few strands from his monocle and with that they both went up to Integrals room.

Once in the room Walter shifted his grip on Integral and with a shout of "Flying Integra!" he lifted her up and spun her around the room. Integral loved this game Walter played with her and she extended her arms pretending to be a super hero wooshing thru the air. After a few moment of flight Walter gently set her down on the bed.

Once she was settled under the covers Walter went over to a pile of books that sat in the corner. "What do you want to hear tonight? Peter Pan, The Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland? He continued naming book after book as he took them off the pile."

"Walter…I don't want to hear story from a book tonight."

Walter turned around. "What do you want to hear then?"

"Can you tell me a story?"

"I suppose that wouldn't be a problem. After all a John Bull like me ought to be able to think up some good bedtime stories."

"Aw Walter your not old. Old people are wrinkly and…well ok you are a little wrinkly but how many other wrinkly people can cut up pizza with dental floss?" Asked Integral obviously convinced that this statement would win her case.

Walter smiled and scratched his head embarrassedly. "From you I'll take that as a compliment. In any event what do you want to hear a story about?"

"Vampires!" said Integral immediately.

"Ah I see." said Walter. "But you have lessons every day with your Father learning about them, why would you want to hear more for a bed time story."

"Because the things that Daddy tells me about them are boring." said Integral. "It's all stuff about how to kill them. I want to hear a story ABOUT them not just things like how to use silver and holy water on them."

"Well I think I can help you there. In my day I've met a vampire or two and your right that some of them are interesting."

"So you'll tell me a story then?" asked Integral.

Walter nodded. "You need to understand that your thoughts were correct. You need to understand that not all vampires are as violent and mindless as they are sometimes made to appear. You need to understand that in the times to come there will be instances where you will need to outsmart a vampire instead of using force. So yes young Hellsing I will tell you your story."

Integral smiled. "That's silly Walter. I don't need all that stuff…I don't even understand what most of it is anyway. Can I just have my bedtime story?"

Walter smiled. "Of course. Tell you what, I'll tell you the story of a vampire I met a long time ago."

"Wow you knew a vampire?" asked Integral, her eyes getting wide.

"Oh yes. You could even say that I knew him quite well."

"What was the vampires' name?" asked Integral.

Walter paused for a second at this. "I'm not sure I should tell you. He's still alive and if you should ever meet up with him I don't want you to handle him any differently then you would any other vampire."

"Well then make up a name for him silly." Said Integral as if this was the simplest thing in the world and Walter was being purposefully dim.

Walter looked into space for a moment and then a broad grin spread across his face. "Alright then, in that case the vampires name was Red. Big Red."

CH2: Black Eyes


	2. Black Eyes

Story Time for Integral

Chapter 2: Black Eyes

Integral raised an eyebrow "Big Red?" she asked skeptically.

Walter nodded. "But for now let's just call him Red."

"Alright, so tell me about this vampire Red. What did he look like?"

"Well," said Walter "for the most part he looked like a rather tall European gentleman of about twenty. He looked normal enough though he did dress oddly. He was always walking around in a great hat and a red coat, hence the nickname."

"Yeah Daddy is always saying that vampires spend most of their time pretending to be human."

"Well now Red only looked human when he wanted to. When he got mad you'd have to be blind and deaf to mistake him for a human. He could turn into horrible and scary things. Why I remember that the most disturbing thing about him when I first saw him was his eyes. They were black and evil looking."

"Aw that's so sad. Who beat him up?" asked Integral.

Walter blinked. "Who beat whom up?"

"That's what I want to know."

"…Let's start over." said Walter after a last failed attempt to understand what was going on.

"Alright, I want to know who beat Red up."

"What did I say that gave any indication that he HAD been beat up?" asked Walter.

"Well you said he had two black eyes." said Integral slowly. She wondered if perhaps Walter really WAS getting on in years and becoming loose in the head.

"…You know what, forget what I said about the eyes. They were red more often then black anyway."

"Alright then go on with the story." said Integral as she snuggled further down under the blankets.

Walter sighed, he had a feeling this might be a long day. "In any event I met Red when I was in my own youth. I had just been hired to the Hellsing family for my…special skills…and at the time he was acting as a servant to this family."

Integrals eyes got huge. "You mean we used to have a vampire working for us? But I thought we were supposed to kill vampires."

An odd smile played across Walters face. "This was a long time ago Miss Hellsing. The past leaders of your house have been vastly different from one another and operated in different ways. Some of the ideas of your grandparents would…not be welcome in this day and age."

"Oh so THAT'S why Daddy keeps calling Grandpa a dried up old crazy man with too many dangerous ideas for his own good."

Walter raised an eyebrow. "That seems a bit harsh though I suppose Sir Lionel did go thru more trouble with Al…Red then your Grandfather. However it's not my place to question them. May I go on with the story?"

"Yes please go on. Sorry Walter."

"As I was saying I met Red in my youth. He was working for this family at the time and both of us were put together as partners for a mission."

"You were new to the Hellsing family but they still put you together with a vampire as a partner?" Asked Integral a little awed.

"Well there were some…interesting circumstances that led to that." said Walter.

Integral could tell he was trying to hide something awkward and anything Walter thought were awkward and wanted to hide Integral had long ago learned were the most interesting. "Please tell me Walter. What happened with you and Red?"

Walter sighed. "Well on my first day at the mansion I was just another soldier in everyone's eyes. Though I did have a few special skills and tricks so did a lot of the other soldiers. After all you don't hunt vampires for years and not pick up a thing or two."

"What are these skills you keep talking about?"

"Oh you know, just the tricks and things I can do with wire. I err…tied the vampires up with it."

"Oh I see."

"You do?" asked Walter.

"Sure." said Integral. "You were a dental floss ninja."

Walter couldn't help but blush a little he heard Integrals old name for him. "Err yes I suppose so. In any event I wanted to be noticed as a member of the agency. So I decided that I would go to the agencies vampire. As you can tell I was an immature child back then rather then the immature old man that I am now."

"What were you planning on doing?" asked Integral her eyes wide again.

"Well," said Walter, "I really don't know."

"Huh? What do you mean you didn't know? You were just going to go after the vampire without any plan at all?"

"Actually yes, and that is exactly what I did. As I walked thru the mansion looking for him I remember that all kinds of plans kept going thru my head. I went thru every possible scenario. I was ready to do everything from killing him off to trying to make friends with him. After a moment of walking around I really had no idea what I was going to do when I found him. Of course as luck would have it that's when I found him, or rather, when he found me."

Integral gulped. "What did he do? Could he tell what you were planning…or not planning?"

"Oh he knew alright and he made sure that I knew that he knew. He came walking down a hallway at me calling my name and as he approached he began to look less and less like his human self. Bats came off of him and he began to grow extra eyes."

Integrals gave a little gasp and pulled the covers up to her face. "And…and what did he do then? Did he try to hurt you? Did he want to drink your blood?"

"Well he got closer and closer to me. Bats were flying all around and I could see that he was turning into a mass of shadow. He came closer and closer till he was right on top of me."

"What happened then?" asked Integral in a little squeak the covers almost over her head.

"He leaned his face in close to me, bared his huge fangs and with his mouth right next to me he asked me in a deep voice 'Do you want to go out for slushies?'"


	3. Slushies

Story Time for Integral  
Chapter 3: Slushies

"Out for slushies" asked Integral, a deadpan expression on her face.  
Walter nodded. "Believe me I was as thrown for a loop as you are now."  
"Let me see if I have this straight." said Integral"you go thru the mansion looking for a vampire, a nearly all powerful being of darkness. You finally find him in a dark corridor just as you realize that you have utterly no clue what you're going to do when you meet him. Then when you are confronted by him he turns into a hideous monster which promptly crouches right over you...and then suddenly asks you to go out for frozen syrup treats."  
"Ah that makes sense, go on."  
Walter blinked and wondered briefly if he should talk to Sir Lionel about the possible dangers of mixing lessons about 'learning to think like the enemy' and 'how vampires use unknowable inhuman logic.' Then he shook it off and went on. "Well to tell the truth I really didn't do much thinking at that point. I just sort of nodded and the next thing I knew the two of us were walking right out of the mansion."  
"To go out and have slushies."  
"Correct."  
"And this is a true story"  
"Yes, every word of it."  
"Right, go on then."

"As I was saying we left the mansion. Literally just walked out the front door and then started walking off down the street towards a nearby ice cream shop. Of course by then he looked human again. Also he had somehow changed his red coat, something that would not have looked out of place a few centuries ago, into something more appropriate for the time period. Let me just say that there is something deeply unsettling about seeing an ageless vampire who you are used to seeing elegantly clad in the garments of a past age suddenly appear to be wearing raggedy jeans and a t-shirt."

Integral giggled at that image. "What happened when you got to the shop?"

"We had slushies, what else?" said Walter. "I was a little surprised to see him eating one since I had always been told that vampires couldn't handle digesting anything but blood."

Integral shook her head. "That's a common misconsumption."

"You mean misconception." Walter quickly corrected.

"Whatever. In any event Daddy told me that vampires are able to digest basically whatever they want. But the younger ones, fledglings, DO get sick if they don't stick to mainly blood and liquids. Plus vampire teeth at any age aren't designed for chewing so they avoid solid food for the most part."

"Well it's good to see that you've been paying attention in your lessons." Said Walter impressed. "May I go on with the story now?"

"Yes. Sorry for the interruption."

"Well needless to say the whole situation was odd. However it was made more disturbing by the fact that on the surface it felt completely normal. Once or twice I even forgot what Red was, forgot that there was a vampire across the table from me and honestly just relaxed and enjoyed my slushie. For one thing Red made for some very good conversation."

"What did you two talk about?" asked Integral as she wondered what kinds of topics would interest the vampire.

Walter laughed. "What didn't we talk about? We just sort of shambled along from one topic to another with no real purpose to it. It was really just talking for talk's sake. I will say this though; I found out that Red loved slushies for one reason."

"What reason is that?"

"Brain freezes." said Walter. "He positively loved them. He'd buy a slushie, down it in one gulp, and then sit back and smile. Of course when I tried that trick I thought I was going to pass out. You should have seen me doubled over clutching my head while he just sat there and laughed."

"Aw poor Walter." Said Integral, who had much experience in the over consumption of frozen treats.

"Well we went on like that for most of the night. We had a private corner to ourselves and Red had gotten quite a bit of cash from who knows where which he used to keep the drinks coming. The pointless conversation continued until morning. However when the sun was just showing the faintest hints of coming up he stopped the conversation we were having suddenly and told me that he had a very important question to ask me."

CH4: The Question


End file.
